The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Echinacea plant, botanically known as Echinacea hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Matthew Saul’.
The new Echinacea is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Dahlonega, Ga. The objective of the breeding program is to develop new Echinacea cultivars with large inflorescences with and unique ray floret coloration.
The new Echinacea originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in October, 2003 of two unnamed Echinacea hybrida selections, not patented. The new Echinacea was discovered and selected as a single flowering plant by the Inventor in a controlled environment in Dahlonega, Ga. in June, 2004 from the resultant progeny of the stated cross-pollinating. The new Echinacea was selected on the basis of its unique ray floret coloration.
Asexual reproduction of the new Echinacea by tissue culture was first conducted in Chamblee, Ga. in August, 2004. Since then, asexual reproduction by tissue culture has shown that the unique features of this new Echinacea are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.